Adalen 31
One
of my all-time favourite films is Adalen 31, Bo Widerberg’s account
of the trade union and social struggles which transformed Sweden. You
can view it in full on YouTube here:
Sweden
used to be a very unequal country until the beginning of the 20th
century. Following a large social mobilization by trade unions and
the Social Democratic party, it became one of the most equal
countries in history.
Commenting
on Sweden, economist Thomas Piketty, writes, “Dominant groups tend
to be conservative and always define the existing inequality
as being natural, coming from some natural scheme or institutions or from rules that cannot be changed. But, in practice,
what you see is something very different: The way inequality is
organized can change very quickly …
It
is impossible to talk about the major issues we face today, whether
it be about privatisation of the NHS, education, social welfare, the
environment, low pay, housing, racism, mental health or the police,
without asking this question – cui bono, who benefits? The answer
is, ‘only a very few’.
In
the UK the six richest people control as much wealth as the poorest
13 million, Six billionaires have a combined fortune of £39.4
billion.
In
2016, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) calculated that the
richest 10% of households hold 44% of all wealth. The poorest 50%, by
contrast, own just 9%.
Meanwhile,
the Equality Trust estimates
that about 14 million
people in Britain live in poverty. Four million of these are more
than 50% below
the poverty line and 1.5
million are destitute. (These
figures are taken from 2017
since when the situation has worsened).
Dr
Wanda Wyporska, of the Equality Trust writes.
“Such a huge gap between the very rich and the vast majority of the
country is dangerous. Such extreme wealth in the hands of so few
people demonstrates just how broken the economic system is.”
If
we look at land ownership we find
that about 25,000 landowners – typically members of the aristocracy
and corporations – have control of half of the country. Guy
Shrubsole, author of “Who Owns England” writes that,
“Most people remain unaware of quite how much land is owned by so
few … A few thousand dukes, baronets and country squires own far
more land than all of middle England put together.”
Speaking
at the UN in 2016, Jeremy Corbyn said, “The
growing concentration of unaccountable wealth and power in the hands
of a tiny corporate elite …has sharply increased inequality,
marginalisation, insecurity and anger across the world … It’s
getting worse … If we want to live in a more egalitarian society
and fund our public services we cannot go on creating worse levels of
inequality.”
There
are powerful forces who decided that this man must go and that this
country was not going to become another Sweden. Watch Adalen 31 and
you will understand that, “the
way inequality is organized can change very quickly.”
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